TOKYO — A powerful typhoon slammed into Japan on Wednesday, leaving 13 people dead or missing in south-central regions and halting trains in Tokyo before grazing a crippled nuclear plant in the tsunami-ravaged northeast.

Officials at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, where engineers are still struggling with small radiation leaks due to tsunami damage, expressed relief that Typhoon Roke's driving winds and rains caused no immediate problems there other than a broken security camera.

"The worst seems to be over," said Takeo Iwamoto, spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., after the storm passed just west of the plant and then headed north.

More than 200,000 households in central Japan were without electricity late Wednesday. Police and local media reported 13 people dead or missing in southern and central regions, many of them believed swept away by rivers swollen with rains.

The storm, packing sustained winds of up to 100 mph, made landfall in the early afternoon near the city of Hamamatsu, about 125 miles west of Tokyo. The fast-moving storm went past the capital in the evening and then headed into the Tohoku region, which was devastated by the March 11 earthquak tsunami.

In Tokyo, where many rush hour commuter trains were suspended, thousands of commuters trying to rush home were stuck at stations across the sprawling city.

"The hotels in the vicinity are all booked up, so I'm waiting for the bullet train to restart," Hiromu Harada, a 60-year-old businessman, said dejectedly at Tokyo Station.

Fire department officials reported three people injured in Tokyo. In the trendy shopping district of Shibuya, winds knocked a tree onto a sidewalk, but no one was hurt. Pedestrians struggled to walk straight in powerful winds that made umbrellas useless.

At the Fukushima plant, engineers are still working to stabilize the reactors six months after three of them melted down when the tsunami disabled the plant's power and back-up generators.

Iwamoto said the storm passed without damaging the reactors' cooling systems, which are crucial to keeping them under control. However, a closed-circuit camera that shows exteriors of the reactor buildings abruptly stopped, and plant workers were investigating, he said.

Workers were trying to prevent pools of contaminated water from flooding and leaking outside the complex, said Junichi Matsumoto, another power company spokesman.

"The contaminated water levels have been rising, and we are watching the situation very closely to make sure it stays there," Matsumoto told reporters.

As the storm headed further into the north, it triggered landslides in parts of Miyagi state that already were hit by the March disasters. Some 2,500 people, including 472 quake and tsunami survivors living in shelters in the town of Onagawa, were ordered to evacuate due to fear of flooding. The local government requested the help of defense troops. Dozens of schools canceled classes.

The disaster-struck region had a chilling reminder of its earlier disasters when a magnitude-5.3 earthquake struck late Wednesday just south of Fukushima in the Ibaraki state. Officials said the temblor posed no danger to the plant, and that it did not cause any damage or injuries in the region.

Nissan Motor Co. spokesman Chris Keeffe said workers at its Yokohama headquarters and nearby technical facilities were being told to go home early for safety reasons, and that two plants were not operating.

A typhoon that slammed Japan earlier this month left about 90 people dead or missing.

Video: Deadly typhoon slams Japan

Closed captioning of: Deadly typhoon slams Japan

>>>south centraljapan
is reeling from a typhoon that left at least six people dead or missing. people navigating floodwaters. this is indoors they're having to use the boats. the storm knocked out power to more than 200,000 homes. they are still recovering from the tsunami in march. carl parker is tracking all of it. just incredible images we're seeing.

>>it was really a power. storm. the good news is it is moving on it. wee got a photograph of the storm as it made landfall. this was about a half a day ago. early in the afternoon,
japan time
. you can see the center of the storm making landfall. about 50 mile to the west, they had as much as 11 inches of rain. major flooding there. you talked about the issues in tokyo. 83-mile-an-hour wind. as much as 17 inches of rain in the northeast part of the island here. i want to show you the loop and show you how powerful the storm was. at one time, probably the equivalent of a category 3 or 4 hurricane as it was approaching. it took on some drier air is started to feel some shear. it came through central and northeast part of
japan
. it is now just about clear of
japan
. some lingering wind. that nation has been hit by a number of serious disaster this is year.